News

Award-winning end to 2017 for CMRI

It may feel like 2017 went past with the blink of an eye, but at Children’s Medical Research Institute we have made some significant achievements from awards to major medical developments.

Our ProCan project, for cancer research, diagnosis and treatment planning saw the proteomes of thousands of cancers scanned into our database. This has helped us to get well on our way to achieving the goal of scanning 70,000 cancers by the end of 2023.

The Vector and Genome Engineering Facility created over 141 tools for genome engineering and gene therapy, more than 42 of those for external collaborators in other institutions that we work with.

Over 50 families have been given a genetic diagnosis for their inherited eye disease, and a potential new drug treatment for kidney disease has been patented in five countries.

Our world-class researchers also received some amazing recognition.

CMRI Director Professor Roger Reddel’s outstanding contributions in the field of medicine were recognised with The Neil Hamilton Fairley Medal for 2017. The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) awards the medal only once every five years, and Prof Reddel was recognized for his world-leading work on telomeres and cancer research.

Professor Phil Robinson was awarded a highly competitive National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Senior Principal Research Fellowship for the fifth consecutive time. A major achievement. This reflects his accomplishments towards developing new treatments for epilepsy and the ProCan project.

Another NMHRC Project Grant went to Professor Ian Alexander and his gene therapy work.

The work that Professor Robyn Jamieson does into inherited blindness was included in Sydney University’s Research Excellence Initiative 2020, to help Sydney researchers test new ideas and push disciplinary boundaries.

CMRI’s Deputy Director Patrick Tam received a Distinguished Professorial Achievement Award at the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Medicine annual dinner in April. Patrick was honoured for his outstanding career achievements in embryology research and “extraordinarily diligent and committed service to the scientific community’’.

It has set a pretty high standard for another outstanding year in 2018.